System and method for networked loyalty program

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a system for implementing a loyalty program on a network-wide level. The system associates UPC and SKU data on a network level to reward consumers and/or to analyze the data for a variety of business purposes, such as market segmentation analyses and/or analyses relating to consumer spending behaviors or patterns for example. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the association of UPC and SKU data by the system facilitates implementation of an incentive or loyalty program by providing a universal rewards currency. This universal rewards currency may be “spent” by participants who have earned rewards and accepted by the other participants in the multi-tiered network created by the system. The network may comprise any number of participants, including consumers, retailers (and any of their employees), manufacturers, third-party providers, and the like. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the association of UPC and SKU data by the system facilitates data analysis on a network level based upon several factors, including a consumer ID, consumer profile, retailer ID, SKU number, UPC, manufacturer ID, and/or the like. The system may compile any of the above data across multiple entities for the purpose of data analysis, such as analyses which may be employed in strategic planning and marketing for example.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional that claims priority to, and thebenefit of, U.S. Ser. No. 09/836,213, entitled “System and Method forNetworked Loyalty Program” and filed Apr. 17, 2001, which applicationclaims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 60/279,817, entitled “System and Method for Networked IncentiveAwards Program” and filed Mar. 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporatedby reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to purchaser incentive andawards redemption programs and, more specifically, to the capture ofretailer item identifiers and the matching of such retailer itemidentifiers with corresponding manufacturer item identifiers tofacilitate, for example, data analysis and the provision of incentivesand awards to consumers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Incentive award programs have been developed in a variety of industriesto promote customer loyalty. Generally, such programs reward customersfor repeat business with the same merchant or service provider byaccumulating reward points which can then be redeemed in a plurality ofways, including exchanging the reward points for additional goods andservices that may be selected from an approved list or a redemptioncatalog for example. The reward points are usually calculated using apredetermined formula or ratio that relates a customer's purchase volume(i.e., in terms of money value or some other volume parameter) to acertain number of reward points. For example, reward points may beissued on a one-for-one basis with each dollar that a customer spends onparticular goods and services.

One well-known example of a customer incentive program is a “frequentflyer” program which rewards airlines passengers with “mileage points”based upon the distances that the passengers fly with a particularairline. The mileage points may then be redeemed for free airfare orfree car rentals. Other incentive award programs are designed to induceusage of particular financial instruments, such as credit cards or debitcards, by accumulating reward points or dollar value points based uponthe volume of purchases made using the particular financial instrument.These types of programs maybe designed such that customers of thefinancial institution accumulate reward points which can be redeemed forselected goods or services or, alternatively, such that customersaccumulate points which have a dollar value which can be applied towarda credit or debit balance, depending on whether the instrument is acredit or debit instrument, for example.

These and other similar incentive award programs are described in U.S.Pat. Nos. 5,774,870 and 6,009,412 issued to Thomas W. Storey andassigned to Netcentives, Inc., both of which are hereby incorporated byreference to the extent that they describe an automated rewards system.For more information on loyalty systems, transaction systems, electroniccommerce systems, and digital wallet systems, see, for example, the ShopAMEX™ system as disclosed in Ser. No. 60/230,190 filed Sep. 5, 2000; theMR as Currency™ and Loyalty Rewards Systems as disclosed in Ser. No.60/197,296 filed on Apr. 14, 2000, Ser. No. 60/200,492 filed Apr. 28,2000, and Ser. No. 60/201,114 filed May 2, 2000; a digital wallet systemas disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 09/652,899 filed Aug. 31, 2000; a storedvalue card as disclosed in Ser. No. 09/241,188 filed on Feb. 1, 1999; asystem for facilitating transactions using secondary transaction numbersas disclosed in Ser. No. 09/800,461 filed on Mar. 7, 2001; and also inrelated provisional applications Ser. No. 60/187,620 filed Mar. 7, 2000,Ser. No. 60/200,625 filed Apr. 28, 2000, and Ser. No. 60/213,323 filedMay 22, 2000, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. Otherexamples of online membership reward systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 5,774,870, issued on Jun. 30, 1998, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,412,issued on Dec. 29, 1999, both of which are hereby incorporated byreference. A further example of a loyalty and reward program may befound at the AIR MILES® Web site (www.airmiles.ca), which describes aloyalty program offered by The Loyalty Group, a privately held divisionof Alliance Data Systems of Dallas, Tex., and which is herebyincorporated by reference. Additional information relating to smart cardand smart card reader payment technology is disclosed in Ser. No.60/232,040, filed on Sep. 12, 2000, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,742,845;5,898,838 and 5,905,908, owned by Datascape; all of which are herebyincorporated by reference. Information on point-of-sale systems and theexploitation of point-of-sale data is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,832,457, issued on Nov. 3, 1998 to O'Brien et al., which is herebyincorporated by reference.

Portions of each of the above-described programs may be used to inducecustomer loyalty to particular merchants or service providers whodirectly provide goods or services to the consumer. In other words,these prior art frequency awards programs provide a means for retailbusinesses, financial institutions, and others in direct contact withthe customers they service to provide incentives to their customers toencourage repeat and/or volume business. However, these programs do notsufficiently address the similar needs of businesses that are further upin the distribution chain, such as manufacturers, to promote volumepurchases by customers based upon, for example, brand loyaltyindependent of the retail source for the purchase. Additionally, theprior art programs do not provide a means for monitoring, tracking,and/or analyzing consumer and product data across distribution channelsfor a particular manufacturer and/or the variety of goods which thatmanufacturer places into the stream of commerce for ultimate sale toconsumers by a retailer.

Generally, before a product arrives at a retail establishment for saleto a consumer, the product travels through a distribution chain whichoriginates with the manufacturer. The manufacturer typically sells itsproducts to a wholesaler who in turn sells those products to variousretailers. Most modern retailers implement some form of computerizationor electronic technology in their day-to-day operations. This technologytypically consists of using point-of-sale (POS) systems for automatingcheckout procedures, assisting sales personnel, and the like. POSsystems generally include one or more automated check-out terminalswhich are capable of inputting or sensing and interpreting a symbol orother indicia related to the product, such as a Universal Product Code(UPC), generally comprising a machine-readable bar code coupled with ahuman-readable UPC number, that is printed on a label or tag which isplaced on each item of merchandise to be purchased. The manufacturer mayassign and mark each product that it sells with a UPC. Conventionally,once the product reaches the retailer, the retailer further identifieseach product with a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) number or code as well asother information for identifying a specific item or style ofmerchandise. The retailer's SKU number may be either an entirelydifferent number used to identify each product (e.g., by style) or amodified version of the manufacturer's UPC number, derived, perhaps, byadding a SKU number to the UPC number for example.

A POS terminal, a kiosk terminal, or a sales person's hand-held terminalmight be coupled to a store computer system, such as a network server orsome other store platform host, which is able to recognize and processUPC and/or SKU information which has been manually keyed-in or sensedand interpreted by a device, such as a barcode reader, coupled to theterminal. The computer system typically includes a database which storesinformation relating to the retailer's product inventory, such asstocked merchandise, a UPC and/or SKU number for each item ofmerchandise, and various types of merchandise identificationinformation, such as price, inventory, style, color, size, etc., whichis associated with each UPC and/or SKU number. When a customer purchasesan item of merchandise, store personnel frequently use an automatedterminal to read the barcode markings which are attached to the item. Acomputer interprets the UPC and/or SKU number comprised by the barcode,accesses the database to determine the price for each item, andmaintains a running total of the total transaction price.

One problem that results from the independent identification schemes ofthe manufacturer and the retailers is that there is no way for themanufacturer to track the quantity of any particular product that eachretailer sold. For example, even if a manufacturer obtains all of theSKU numbers representing items purchased from Retailer 1 and Retailer 2by consumers, the manufacturer has no means for determining which SKUnumber corresponds to the manufacturer's UPC, since the UPC's and SKUnumbers of the various retailers are not tracked and matched.

In view of the foregoing, a need exists for an incentive or loyaltyprogram which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art. Thus, thereis a need for a system and method which provides a universal customerincentive program that networks various levels of the productdistribution chain, such as manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers,to provide incentives to consumers to purchase products not only from aparticular merchant or group of merchants but also from particularmanufacturers, regardless of the specific merchant who sells themanufacturer's products to the consumer. Additionally, a need exists fora system and method for gathering data which associates particularconsumer purchasing behaviors and specific products or product criteriaacross a manufacturer's distribution channels.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system for implementing a loyaltyprogram on a network-wide level. The system associates UPC and SKU dataon a network level to reward consumers and/or to analyze the data for avariety of business purposes, such as market segmentation analysesand/or analyses relating to consumer spending behaviors or patterns, forexample. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the associationof UPC and SKU data by the system facilitates implementation of anincentive or loyalty program by providing a universal rewards currency.This universal rewards currency may be “spent” by participants who haveearned rewards and accepted by the other participants in themulti-tiered network created by the system. The network may comprise anynumber of participants, including consumers, retailers (and any of theiremployees), manufacturers, third-party providers, and the like. Inaccordance with another aspect of the invention, the association of UPCand SKU data by the system facilitates data analysis on a network levelbased upon several factors, including a consumer ID, consumer profile,retailer ID, SKU number, UPC, manufacturer ID, and/or the like. Thesystem may compile any of the above data across multiple entities forthe purpose of data, analysis, such as analyses which may be employed instrategic planning and marketing for example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Additional aspects of the present invention will become evident uponreviewing the non-limiting embodiments described in the specificationand the claims, in conjunction with the accompanying figures, whereinlike numerals designate like elements, and wherein:

FIGS. 1-3 are schematic block diagrams illustrating exemplary incentivesystems in accordance with various aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary central rewardsmechanism in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary rewards server inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for capturingand processing POS SKU data in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for associatingSKU data and UPC data in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following disclosure presents and describes various exemplaryembodiments in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention, and it should be understood that otherembodiments may be realized without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. Thus, the following detailed description is presentedfor purposes of illustration only, and not of limitation, and the scopeof the invention is defined solely by the appended claims.

The present invention may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components and various processing steps. It should be appreciatedthat such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardwareand/or software components configured to perform the specifiedfunctions. For example, the present invention may employ variousintegrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processingelements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carryout a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the present invention may be implemented with anyprogramming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL,assembler, PERL, or the like, with the various algorithms beingimplemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes,routines, or other programming elements. Further, it should be notedthat the present invention may employ any number of conventionaltechniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, networkcontrol, and the like. For a basic introduction to cryptography, pleasereview a text written by Bruce Schneider which is entitled “AppliedCryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,” published byJohn Wiley & Sons (second edition, 1996), which is hereby incorporatedby reference.

It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown anddescribed herein are illustrative of the invention and its best mode andare not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present inventionin any way. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the variousfigures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. Itshould be noted that many alternative or additional functionalrelationships or physical connections may be present in a practicalincentive system implemented in accordance with the invention.

Communication between participants in the system of the presentinvention is accomplished through any suitable communication means, suchas, for example, a telephone network, public switch telephone network,intranet, Internet, extranet, WAN, LAN, point of interaction device(e.g., point of sale device, personal digital assistant, cellular phone,kiosk terminal, automated teller machine (ATM), etc.), onlinecommunications, off-line communications, wireless communications,satellite communications, and/or the like. One skilled in the art willalso appreciate that, for security reasons, any databases, systems, orcomponents of the present invention may consist of any combination ofdatabases or components at a single location or at multiple locations,wherein each database or system includes any of various suitablesecurity features, such as firewalls, access codes, encryption,de-encryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

It further will be appreciated that users may interact with the systemvia any input device such as a keyboard, mouse, kiosk, personal digitalassistant, handheld computer (e.g., Palm Pilot®), cellular phone, and/orthe like. Similarly, the invention could be used in conjunction with anytype of personal computer, network computer, workstation, minicomputer,mainframe, or the like, running any operating system, such as anyversion of Windows, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 95,MacOS, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, or the like. Moreover, although theinvention may be described herein as being implemented with TCP/IPcommunications protocols, it will be readily understood that theinvention could also be implemented using IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS,OSI, or any number of existing or future protocols. Moreover, the systemcontemplates the use, sale, or distribution of any goods, services, orinformation over any network having similar functionality describedherein.

Each participant or user of the system of the present invention,including purchasers, retailers, manufacturers, and a third-partyproviders, may be equipped with a suitable computing system tofacilitate online communications and transactions with any otherparticipant. For example, some or all participants may have access to acomputing unit in the form of a personal computer, although other typesof computing units may be used, including laptops, notebooks, handheldcomputers, set-top boxes, kiosk terminals, and the like. Additionally,other participants may have computing systems which may be implementedin the form of a computer-server, a PC server, a networked set ofcomputers, or any other suitable implementations which are known in theart or may hereafter be devised.

The computing systems may be connected with each other via a datacommunications network as described more fully above. For example, thenetwork may be a public network, which is assumed to be insecure andopen to eavesdroppers. In one embodiment, the network is embodied as theInternet. In this context, the computers may or may not be connected tothe Internet at all times. For instance, the consumer's computer mayemploy a modem to occasionally connect to the Internet, whereas theretailer computing system, the manufacturer computing system, and thecentral rewards mechanism might maintain a permanent connection to theInternet. It is noted that the network may be implemented as other typesof networks, such as an interactive television (ITV) network.

The retailer's computer system may also be interconnected to athird-party provider via a second network, referred to as a paymentnetwork. The payment network represents existing proprietary networksthat presently accommodate transactions for credit cards, debit cards,and other types of financial instruments or banking cards. The paymentnetwork is a closed network that is assumed to be secure fromeavesdroppers. Examples of the payment network include the AmericanExpress®, VisaNet®, and the Veriphone® networks.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the presentinvention may be embodied as a method, a data processing system, adevice for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of anentirely software embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or anembodiment combining aspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore,the present invention may take the form of a computer program product ona computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program-codemeans embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, opticalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or the like.

The present invention is described below with reference to blockdiagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (e.g.,systems), and computer program products according to various aspects ofthe invention. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Thesecomputer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionswhich execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose, hardware-based computer systems which performthe specified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions.

As used herein, the terms “user” and “participant” shall interchangeablyrefer to any person, entity, charitable organization, machine, hardware,software, or business who accesses and uses the system of the invention,including consumers, retailers, manufacturers, and third-partyproviders. Participants in the system may interact with one anothereither online or off-line. As used herein, the term “online” refers tointeractive communications that takes place between participants who areremotely located from one another, including communication through anyof the networks or communications means described above or the like.

The term “manufacturer” shall include any person, entity,- charitableorganization, machine, software, hardware, and/or the like thatmanufactures, distributes, or originates a product or service which mayultimately be offered to a consumer directly or indirectly through aretailer. The term “manufacturer” may also include any party thatgenerates and/or provides manufacturer item identifiers. The term“retailer” shall include any person, entity, charitable organization,machine, software, hardware, and/or the like that that offers a productor service to a consumer. As used herein, the term “retailer” is usedinterchangeably with the term “merchant”. Moreover, in this context, aretailer or merchant may offer or sell, either online or offline,products and/or services made or supplied by at least one manufacturer.As used herein, the phrases “network level” and “network-wide level”shall refer to a system that includes more than one retailer and atleast one manufacturer.

As used herein, the terms “purchaser”, “customer”, “consumer”, and“end-user” may be used interchangeably with each other, and each shallmean any person, entity, charitable organization, or business which usesa consumer ID to participate in the present system. A “consumer ID”, asused herein, includes any device, code, or other identifier suitablyconfigured to allow the consumer to interact or communicate with thesystem, such as, for example, a rewards card, charge card, credit card,debit card, prepaid card, telephone card, smart card, magnetic stripecard, bar code card, authorization/access code, personal identificationnumber (PIN), Internet code, other identification code, and/or the like.Additionally, a “consumer ID” may comprise any form of electronic,magnetic, and/or optical device capable of transmitting or downloadingdata from itself to a second device which is capable of interacting andcommunicating with such forms of consumer I.D.

A consumer may register to participate in the present system by anymethods known and practiced in the art. For example, a consumer may beenrolled automatically (e.g. if the consumer holds an existing accountwith the system administrator), over the phone, at the point of salethrough a paper application or verbal interview, through the mail, orthrough instant enrollment online. Consumer enrollment data may compriseany of the following: name; address; date of birth; social securitynumber; email address; gender; the names of any household members; acredit card number for charging any fees that may be associated withparticipation in the system, survey data; interests, educational level,and/or any preferred brand names. Upon enrollment, the consumer receivesa consumer ID. The consumer ID may be associated with a householdaccount which specifies the consumer as a primary member and permits theidentification of supplementary members associated with the consumer'shousehold who may also earn reward points for the consumer.

A “consumer profile”, as used herein, shall refer to any data used tocharacterize a consumer and/or the behavior of a consumer. In thecontext of a commercial transaction, “a consumer profile” shall beunderstood to include, for example, the time and date of a particularpurchase, the frequency of purchases, the volume/quantity of purchases,the transaction size (price), and/or the like. Additionally, in othertransactional contexts, the term “consumer profile” shall also beunderstood to include non-purchase behaviors of a consumer, such asconsumer enrollment data, visiting a Web site, referrals of prospectiveparticipants in the system, completion of a survey or other informationgathering instrument, and/or the like. For instance, a participatingonline consumer may earn rewards points automatically through atriggering event, such as visiting a Web site, completing an onlinesurvey, or clicking on a banner advertisement for example. Offline, aparticipating consumer may earn rewards points by completing a task orshowing their consumer ID to the cashier and triggering the cashier toprovide a “behavior” ID which may be input (e.g., by scanning a bar codeon a paper survey for example) into the POS terminal. Further, anyaspects of the consumer profile may be used in the context of dataanalysis.

A “third-party provider” may comprise any additional provider of goodsand/or services to a consumer. Specifically, a “third-party provider”includes any party other than the particular manufacturer and retailerwho is involved in a transaction with a consumer. A third-party providermay include, for example, a financial institution, such as a bank or anissuer of a financial instrument (such as a credit card or a debitcard). A third-party provider may also include a provider of goods andservices which are offered as awards to consumers in exchange for arequisite number of reward points.

Though the invention may generically be described with reference to aseries of transactions which transfer a good or service from anoriginating party to an intermediary party and a subsequent transactionwhich transfers the good or service from the intermediary party to anend-user of that good or service, for convenience and purposes ofbrevity and consistency, the present disclosure generally refers to theoriginating party as a manufacturer, the intermediary party as aretailer, the end-user as a consumer, and a good or service as a productor item. However, it will be recognized by those of ordinary skill inthe art that the retailer need not provide a product or item to aconsumer in exchange for monetary currency. While this often may be thecase, the present disclosure is not so limited and includes transactionswhich may be gratuitous in nature, whereby the retailer transfers aproduct or item to a consumer without the consumer providing anycurrency or other value in exchange. It is further noted that additionalparticipants, referred to as third-party providers, may be involved insome phases of the transaction, though these participants are not shown.Exemplary third-party providers may include financial institutions, suchas banks, credit card companies, card sponsoring companies, or issuersof credit who may be under contract with financial institutions. It willbe appreciated that any number of consumers, retailers, manufacturers,third-party providers, and the like may participate in the system of thepresent invention.

As used herein, the term “UPC” and the phrase “manufacturer itemidentifier” shall refer to any symbol or indicia which providesinformation and, in an exemplary embodiment, shall refer to any number,code, or identifier assigned by a manufacturer and associated with anitem, including any type of goods and/or services, ultimately offered toa consumer or other end-user. Colloquially, a UPC is sometimes referredto as a SKU number. However, as used herein, the term “SKU” and thephrase “retailer item identifier” shall refer to any symbol or indiciawhich provides additional information and, in an exemplary embodiment,shall refer to any number, code, or identifier assigned by a retailerand associated with an item, including any type of goods and/orservices, offered to a consumer or other end-user.

“Purchase data”, as used herein, comprises data relating to the offer ofany item to a consumer or other end-user. Purchase data may include anyof the following: an item purchased, an item price, a number of itemspurchased, a total transaction price, a payment vehicle, a date, a storeidentifier, an employee identifier, a retailer item identifier, aloyalty identifier, and/or the like.

“Retailer ID”, as used herein, comprises any symbol, indicia, code,number, or other identifier that may be associated with a retailer ofany type of goods and/or services offered to a consumer or otherend-user. A retailer ID may also include or be associated with a “storeID”, which designates the location of a particular store. A“manufacturer ID” comprises any symbol, indicia, code, number, or otheridentifier that may be associated with a manufacturer of any type ofgoods and/or services ultimately offered to a consumer or otherend-user.

An “award” or “reward” may comprise any quantity of products, services,coupons, gift certificates, rebates, reward points, bonus points,credits or debits to a financial instrument, any combination of these,and/or the like.

“Data analysis”, as used herein, shall be understood to comprisequantitative and qualitative research, statistical modeling, regressionanalyses, market segmentation analyses, econometrics, and/or the like.Such analyses may be used to predict consumer behaviors and/or correlateconsumer profiles, retailer data, manufacturer data, and/or product orservice data.

The system of the present invention associates or maps manufacturer UPCdata and retailer SKU data on a network level to reward consumers and/orto analyze the data for a variety of business purposes, such as marketsegmentation analyses and/or analyses relating to consumer spendingbehaviors or patterns for example. Rather than simply capturingtransactions at a Record of Charge (ROC) level, that is, recordingconsumer purchases in a general fashion by designating purchasecategories (such as “clothing”, “electronics”, or “hardware” forexample), the system identifies the particular item purchased (such as“jeans”, “stereo”, or “hammer” for example) as well as its correspondingmanufacturer. By matching or associating the retailer SKU and themanufacturer's UPC, the system permits the standardization of goodsand/or services codes at the network level. This standardization notonly permits a record of both the specific item purchased and itsmanufacturer, regardless of the multiple goods and/or services, multipleretailers, and/or multiple manufacturers to advantageously cross-marketgoods and services to consumers.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the association of UPCand SKU data by the system facilitates implementation of an incentive orloyalty program by providing a universal rewards currency which may be“spent” by participants who have earned rewards and accepted by theother participants in the multi-tiered network created by the system.The network may comprise any number of participants, includingconsumers, retailers (and any of their employees), manufacturers,third-party providers, and the like. Each of these categories ofparticipants may be considered a tier in the network, and eachparticipant within the various tiers may design and implement anindependent rewards scheme within the context of the universalenvironment provided by the system. For example, Manufacturer 1 mayproduce and assign a UPC to Item X. Item X may subsequently be offeredfor sale by both Retailer 1 and Retailer 2. Retailer 1 and Retailer 2may then each assign an independent SKU number to Item X to facilitatetheir own tracking, inventory, and pricing schemes. A consumer may thenpurchase Item X from both Retailer 1 and Retailer 2.

Since the system is capable of processing, associating, and quantifyinga variety of data, including consumer data, employee data, retailerdata, manufacturer data, SKU number data corresponding to Item X, andUPC data assigned by Manufacturer 1, for example, this data can then beused by the manufacturer, the retailer, the system administrator, and/ora third-party provider to provide rewards to consumers, employees,retailers, etc. For example, a manufacturer may provide frequency-basedincentives, such as every 10^(th) purchase of a particular item will bediscounted by 50% for example, independent of and/or in addition to anyincentives offered by the specific retailer involved in the transaction.Additionally, the manufacturer may provide sales incentives to theemployees of retailers independent of and/or in addition to any employeeincentive programs that the retailers may choose to implement.

Since rewards, which may be in the form of rewards points, may be earnedacross the various tiers in the network, rewards may also be used orspent across the various tiers in the network Thus, any rewards pointsthat an employee, for example, may earn by promoting a particularmanufacturer's line of products, may be “spent” by that employee ongoods or services provided by any participant in the network, not merelyat the retailer who employs that employee. Likewise, any rewards pointsearned by a consumer may be spent on goods or services offered by anyparticipant in the network.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the association ofUPC and SKU data by the system facilitates data analysis on a networklevel based upon several factors, including any of the following:consumer ID, consumer profile, retailer ID, SKU number, UPC,manufacturer ID, and/or the like. The system may compile any of theabove data across multiple participants for the purpose of dataanalysis, such as analyses which may be employed in strategic planningand marketing for example. The system of the invention may be used tocompile, analyze, and report data in a manner which would inform any orall network participants that, for example, a specific consumer (1) hasmade multiple purchases of particular manufacturers' products; (2) hasspent Q dollars over a certain time period (3) at specific multipleretailers; and (4) of the purchases made, R dollars went towards thepurchase of Product 1, S dollars went towards the purchase of Product 2,and T dollars went towards the purchase of Service 1. Moreover, thesystem may be used to compile, analyze, and report data that enable aretailer, a manufacturer, and/or a third-party provider to create avariety of targeted marketing promotions, such as, for example, (1)marketing Product I offered by Manufacturer 1 to consumers who purchaseProduct 2 offered by Manufacturer 2; (2) marketing Product 1 offered byManufacturer 1 and sold by Retailer X to consumers who purchase Product2 offered by Manufacturer 2 at Retailer Y; (3) marketing Product 1offered by Manufacturer 1 and sold by Retailer X to consumers whopurchase Product 2 offered by Manufacturer 2 at Retailer Y five times ayear. It will be appreciated that these are but a few of the manypossible applications for data gathered and generated by the system ofthe present invention.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the systemadministrator may allocate rewards points to participants in the system.In one embodiment, participating retailers and/or manufacturers maypurchase points from the system administrator and the points are thenallocated to an account associated with the retailer and/ormanufacturer. In an alternate embodiment, the system administrator maygive or donate points to participating retailers and/or manufacturers.The system administrator maintains an account with each of theparticipating retailers and manufacturers and tracks available pointsbalances and/or balances owing on a rolling basis. The points purchasedby the retailers and/or manufacturers may then be earned by and issuedto consumers in a manner that is predetermined by the retailer and/ormanufacturer involved in the transaction with the consumer. For example,Retailer 1 may purchase 10,000 points from the system administrator andthen offer consumers 1 point for every $10 dollars spent in Retailer l'sstore or, perhaps, some number of points for every fifth transaction inthe store. Moreover, Manufacturer 1, who produces the product offered byRetailer 1, may also purchase points from the system administrator.Thus, when a consumer purchases Manufacturer 1's product at Retailer 1,Manufacturer 1 may issue some number of points to the consumer. Theissuance of points, either by retailers or manufacturers, may be basedupon any selected criteria, including a points-for-dollars ratio, adefined quantity of points per item or per transaction, some combinationof these, and/or the like.

The system administrator maintains an account for each participatingconsumer and apprises the consumer of the points totals and accountactivity. The consumer may review the total number of points in theaccount either online or off-line, such as through a periodic statementsent by the system administrator or through the use of a communicationsnetwork, such as the Internet, for example. Points in the consumer'saccount are accumulated across the multiple retailers and/ormanufacturers participating in the system. Thus, points earned by aconsumer based upon transactions with different retailers and/ormanufacturers are combined, resulting in a rapid accrual of points. Thesystem administrator offers a catalog of products and services, whichmay be either online or off-line, from which consumers may selectrewards in exchange for accrued points. In this manner, consumersadvantageously earn points based upon their everyday purchases ofproducts and services, these points are accrued across retailers and/ormanufacturers, and points redemption takes place through a single,universal catalog of rewards.

In accordance with the present invention, FIG. 1 is a diagramillustrating an exemplary embodiment of an incentive or loyalty system100. System 100 comprises a central rewards mechanism 102; a pluralityof retailer/merchant systems 104; and at least one manufacturer 106. Oneskilled in the art will appreciate that system 100 may comprise anynumber of retailer systems 104 and any number of manufacturers 106.

The central rewards mechanism 102 manages the incentive or loyaltyprogram of the system 100. In an exemplary embodiment, central rewardsmechanism 102 receives, processes, and stores manufacturer data, such asinformation regarding products and/or services and UPC data, transmittedby manufacturers 106 who have enrolled in the system 100. Manufacturers106 may transmit data to central rewards mechanism 102 in any form andby any means known in the art, including any of the communications meansdescribed above. The manufacturer data is stored by the central rewardsmechanism 102 in database 103. Database 103 may be any type of database,such as relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like.Common database products that may be used to implement database 103include DB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), any of the database productsavailable from Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), MicrosoftAccess by Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), or any other databaseproduct. Database 103 may be organized in any suitable manner, includingas data tables or lookup tables.

The central rewards mechanism 102 may receive and process consumer IDinformation and purchase data from any of the retailer systems 104. Thecentral rewards mechanism 102 may also associate a particular consumerID with the purchase data and a corresponding manufacturer itemidentifier. In one embodiment, the central rewards mechanism 102performs an analysis involving any of the following: a consumer ID,purchase data, a points ratio, a consumer profile, a retailer ID, and amanufacturer ID. The analysis may be dependent upon the association ofthe consumer IDs, the purchase data, and the manufacturer itemidentifier. The analysis may further comprise, for example, acalculation of rewards points and/or other analyses for purposes ofmarket segmentation, determining consumer spending behavior, correlatingspending behavior and consumer demographics, and/or the like, asdescribed in greater detail above.

In one exemplary embodiment, the central rewards mechanism 102 storesand informs a consumer of the rewards points that have been earned by aparticular transaction as well as accumulated over time. The number ofrewards points calculated and awarded by the central rewards mechanism102 for a particular purchase may depend upon a predetermined rewardsratio. The rewards ratio may be determined by the retailer, the systemadministrator, the manufacturer of the purchased item, and/or any othersuitable third-party. For example, if a participating consumer buys aproduct from a retailer for $100 and if the retailer rewards ratio isone reward point for each dollar of the purchase price (i.e.,one-for-one), once the consumer's consumer ID is identified by thesystem, the consumer is credited with a suitable number of rewardspoints from the retailer, which, in this case, would be 100 points.However, if the manufacturer also chooses to issue rewards points forthe item purchased, the manufacturer may select a points ratio that isdifferent from the retailer's selected ratio. In the illustratedexample, if the manufacturer's selected points ratio is two-for-one,then the consumer will be awarded an additional 200 points from themanufacturer for this single $100 purchase. In this manner, the systemof the invention may provide “earn accelerators” through which consumersmay accumulate rewards points at comparatively rapid rate. In otherwords, a single purchase may generate rewards points for a consumer fromany or all of a retailer, a manufacturer, and/or a third-party provider,and those rewards points may be used as rewards currency by the consumerthroughout the network established by the system of the invention.

In an exemplary embodiment, retailer system 104 comprises a retailerterminal 108 and a retailer processor 110 in communication with database111. Retailer terminal 108 comprises any device capable of identifying aconsumer ID. Exemplary devices for identifying a consumer ID may includea conventional card reader which recognizes a magnetic stripe or barcode associated with a consumer ID, a biometric device, a smart cardreader which recognizes information stored on a microchip integratedwith a consumer ID, and any device capable of receiving or uploadingconsumer ID data transmitted electronically, magnetically, optically,and/or the like. In one embodiment, retailer terminal 108 and retailerprocessor 110 are co-located at a retail store. In another embodiment,retail terminal 108 and retailer processor 110 are remote from eachother.

In an exemplary embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 2, retailer terminal108 comprises a retailer POS terminal 112, such as a cash register forexample. When a consumer ID is used at the time an item is purchased,purchase data, including a SKU number, is input, sensed, or otherwiserecognized by terminal 108, and then the purchase data is processed andstored by retailer processor 110. Retailer processor 110 comprises or isin communication with a suitable database 111 or other storage devicefor maintaining and storing purchase data and any other suitableretailer information. Database 111 may be any type of database, such asany of the database products described above for example. Database 111may be organized in any suitable manner, including as data tables orlookup tables. Purchase data that is stored in database 111 is availableto the retailer's local back office system (not shown) for inventory,accounting, tax, data analysis, and other purposes. The capturedpurchase data may include the item purchased, the item's unit price, thenumber of items purchased, the date, the store location, an employee ID,and any other information related to the purchase. In an exemplaryembodiment, retailer processor 110 may also receive, process, and storemanufacturer data, such as information regarding products and/orservices and UPC data, from manufacturers 106 who have enrolled in thesystem 100. The manufacturer data may be stored in any suitable form,including data tables or lookup tables.

In accordance with the exemplary embodiments illustrated in FIG. 3,purchase data may also be transmitted to and stored and processed by aretailer regional processor 114 (or, alternatively, a retailer nationaldatabase (not shown)) in communication with database 115 for the purposeof further back office and cumulative data analysis. Database 115 may beany type of database, such as any of the database products described ingreater detail above for example. Database 115 may be organized in anysuitable manner, including as data tables or lookup tables. In anexemplary embodiment, retailer processor 110 optionally may beintegrated with retailer regional processor 114 (illustrated by thephantom lines encompassing Retailer Processor 1 and retailer regionalprocessor 114 within the system of Retailer/Merchant #2), therebyforming a single device. In another embodiment, retailer processor 110and retailer regional processor 114 are separate devices which may beeither co-located with each other or remotely located from one another.For example, in one embodiment, retailer processor 110 and regionalprocessor 114 are co-located at a particular retail store. In anotherembodiment, retailer processor 110 is located at a particular retailstore and retailer regional processor 114 is remotely located at aregional office.

Regardless of the location of retailer regional processor 114, retailerregional processor 114 receives and processes similar information fromeach of the retailer processors 110 associated with each of the retailstores owned by the same retailer. Whether the system 100 comprises aretailer regional processor 114 or a retailer national processor may bea function of the number of stores maintained by a particular retailer.That is, a larger retailer who has numerous stores throughout thecountry, for example, may choose to have a plurality of regionalprocessors, while a smaller retailer with a few stores scattered acrossthe country may be better served by a single, national processor. Inexemplary embodiments, the retailer regional processors 114 and/ornational processors communicate with a suitable database 115 or otherstorage device which is configured to store and maintain purchase dataand any other suitable retailer information. In another exemplaryembodiment, retailer regional processor 114 may receive, process, andstore manufacturer data, such as information regarding products and/orservices and UPC data, from manufacturers 106 who have enrolled in thesystem 100. The manufacturer data may be stored in any suitable form,including data tables or lookup tables.

With momentary reference to FIG. 2, retailer terminal 108 may comprise arewards terminal 116 through which a consumer may be updated with regardto various aspects of the system. For example, rewards terminal 116 mayinform a consumer of the number of reward points that they haveaccumulated from all system participants and the types of awards thatmay be obtained using those reward points. Moreover, rewards terminal116 may suggest to the consumer various awards for which the consumer iseligible based upon the rewards points generated by the consumer'snetwork-wide purchases. In this context, network-wide purchases includeany purchases of items corresponding to retailers and/or manufacturersparticipating in the system 100.

In an exemplary embodiment, rewards terminal 116 operates in real-time.In this context, “real-time” means that reward points are immediately,or nearly immediately, updated at the time purchases are made and aretherefore immediately redeemable by the consumer at the a point of sale.Thus, for example, a consumer may be informed by rewards terminal 116 atthe point of sale that the item being purchased by the consumer may bepurchased using the consumer's accumulated reward points, includingpoints accumulated on a network level. Points accumulated on a networklevel enable consumers to accumulate points more rapidly than would bepossible if only a single retailer or group of retailers were issuingthe points. In one embodiment, rewards terminal 116 may update aconsumer's rewards points in real-time and, in response to theconsumer's particular points total, issue a coupon, a gift certificate,and/or additional bonus points to the consumer.

In another exemplary embodiment, the system may operate in batch mode,wherein points totals are calculated, stored, and periodically updatedfor access by the retailer terminal 108, including POS terminal 112and/or rewards terminal 116. Thus in this embodiment, the consumer maybe notified of available points sometime after a purchase, or asuggestive sale may take place after a purchase. The total point countor suggestive sale may take into account points generated andaccumulated as the result of network-wide purchases.

In various alternate embodiments of the invention, retailer terminal 108may include a rewards terminal 116 but not a POS terminal 112; a POSterminal 112 but not a rewards terminal 116; or a POS terminal 112 incommunication with a rewards terminal 116. In alternate embodiments,where terminal 108 includes a POS terminal 112 and a rewards terminal116, the two terminals 112 and 116 may be variously implemented asseparate terminals, integrated terminals, or software within a device.In another embodiment, where terminal 108 comprises a rewards terminal116 but not a POS terminal 112, terminal 108 may be a kiosk terminallocated within a retail store or some other remote terminal which iscapable of recognizing a consumer ID and communicating with the system100. A consumer may use independent rewards terminal 116 to do, forexample, any of the following: view accumulated reward points totals;view potential awards which the consumer may obtain in exchange forvarious numbers of points; select an award; redeem rewards points for aselected award; request and/or receive a reward points advisorystatement; and/or view a directory of participating retailers,manufacturers, and third-party providers.

In another exemplary embodiment, system 100 further comprises a consumerterminal 118. Consumer terminal 118 is any remote terminal through whicha consumer may access other aspects of the system 100. Consumer terminal118 may comprise any of the input devices, computing units, or computingsystems described above. Further, consumer terminal 118 communicateswith the system 100—through any of the communications networks describedabove. In one embodiment, consumer terminal 118 permits a consumer toengage multiple facets of the system 100 in an interactive onlinecommunications environment. The interactive online environment madeavailable through consumer terminal 118 is an extension of thenetwork-level incentive award program and is implemented in conjunctionwith other aspects of the system 100. In this context, a consumer mayuses consumer terminal 118 for a variety of purposes. In one embodiment,consumer terminal 118 may be used to communicate with and receiveinformation from the central rewards mechanism 102. For example, aconsumer may use consumer terminal 118 to do any of the following:enroll in the system; receive statements or reports regardingaccumulated reward points totals; receive bonus details; view potentialawards which the consumer may obtain in exchange for various numbers ofpoints; select an award; receive redemption information; view pointsadjustments; redeem rewards points for a selected award; request and/orreceive a reward points advisory statement; receive informationregarding where and how points were earned and/or how points wereredeemed; receive information regarding expiration dates for pointsearned; receive information relating to any applicable fees; receiveinformation regarding marketing promotions; and/or view a directory ofparticipating retailers, manufacturers, and/or third-party providers.

In another embodiment, consumer terminal 118 may be used to interactwith and/or make purchases and generate rewards points fromparticipating online retailers, as illustrated by the various phantomlines in FIG. 1. The online retailer may then communicate with thecentral rewards mechanism 102 to transmit and process a consumer ID,purchase data, etc., as described above with reference to retailer 104of FIG. 1. Information communicated between the online consumer, theonline retailer, and the online central rewards mechanism may include,for example, product or service information, prices, availability of theproduct or service, shipping information, rewards points information,available awards, information regarding points ratios and pointsredemption, and/or the like. In one embodiment, consumer terminal 118operates in real-time, as described above with respect to rewardsterminal 116. In another embodiment, the consumer terminal 118 mayoperate in batch mode, as described above. In still a furtherembodiment, consumer terminal 118 operates in a manner which includesaspects of both real-time functionality and batch mode functionality.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the system 100 maycomprise a rewards server 120 in communication with a database 121, asillustrated in FIG. 2. Database 121 may be any type of database, such asany of the database products described above for example. Database 121may be organized in any suitable manner, including as data tables orlookup tables. In an exemplary embodiment, rewards server 120 may be anyhardware and/or software that is configured to communicate with thecentral rewards mechanism 102 and either the retailer processor 110 orthe retailer regional processor 114. In alternate exemplary embodiments,rewards server 120 may be integrated with retailer system 104; rewardsserver 120 may be integrated with central rewards mechanism 102; orrewards server 120 may be separate from both retailer system 104 andcentral rewards mechanism 102. In a further embodiment, the rewardsserver 120 may communicate with both a retailer national processor (notshown) and the central rewards mechanism 102.

In an exemplary embodiment, rewards server 120 receives, processes, andstores both manufacturer data and retailer data. Manufacturer data mayinclude descriptions of products and/or services and UPC datatransmitted from manufacturers 106 who have enrolled in the system 100.The manufacturer data may be stored in any suitable form, including datatables or lookup tables. Retailer data may include descriptions ofproducts and/or services and SKU data transmitted from retailers 104 whohave enrolled in the system 100. The retailer data may be stored in anysuitable form, including data tables or lookup tables.

In an exemplary embodiment, the rewards server 120 performs a pluralityof functions that might otherwise be performed by the central rewardsmechanism 102. For example, since rewards calculations requiresignificant processing and memory resources, performance of calculationsprocessing by the rewards server 120 at the regional level lessens theprocessing load on the central rewards mechanism 102, thereby increasingthe efficiency of the central rewards mechanism 102. In an exemplaryembodiment, each retailer's region, which comprises a plurality of thatretailer's stores or outlets, accesses a rewards server 120 which actsas an intermediary between the retailer regional processor 114 and thecentral rewards mechanism 102. This configuration relieves theprocessing, power, memory, and other requirements of the central rewardsmechanism 102. Moreover, each retailer is but one of many retailers thatmay participate in the network level rewards structure. Accordingly, aplurality of rewards servers 120 may be in communication with thecentral rewards mechanism 102 as well as each of the participatingretailer regional processors 114, further alleviating the processingburden and freeing up the resources of the central rewards mechanism102.

Implementations which include at least one independent rewards server120 are also advantageous because cost-effective communications linksmay be used to facilitate communications with the central rewardsmechanism 102. Performance by the rewards server 120 of many of the“intelligence functions” of the system 100, permits transmission of onlyparticular forms of purchaser information to the central rewardsmechanism 102. In an exemplary embodiment, data sent from the rewardsserver 120 to the central rewards mechanism 102 may include the consumerID and the total number of rewards points earned by a consumer in aparticular transaction. In another exemplary embodiment, datatransmitted by the rewards server 120 to the central rewards mechanism102 may also include any pre-selected aspect of the consumer profile,any pre-selected aspect of the purchase data, and/or any otherpre-selected data associated with a consumer, a retailer, amanufacturer, and/or a third-party provider. Pre-selection of the typesof data transmitted by the rewards server 120 to the central rewardsmechanism 102 may be conducted by the system administrator, a retailer,a manufacturer, and/or a third-party provider. Thus, data which may beuseful for purposes of data analysis but unrelated to the rewardsfeature, such as the characteristics of the particular item purchasedfor example, may not need to be transmitted to the central rewardsmechanism 102.

Exemplary functions performed by the rewards server 120 may include theassociation of UPC and SKU data; manipulation of the rewards criteriaapplicable in particular cases, which may further depend upon theretailer, manufacturer, and/or third-party provider involved in aspecific transaction with a consumer; calculation of rewards benefitsearned by the consumer; filtration functions for determining which datais transmitted from the rewards server 120 to the central rewardsmechanism 102; and/or various types of data analyses, as describedabove. In an exemplary embodiment, the retailer system 104 houses,maintains, and updates the hardware and/or software of the rewardsserver 120. In another embodiment, rewards server 120 may be housed,maintained, and updated by the system administrator.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, thesystem 100 permits an open payment system. Since the invention generallyprovides that consumer participation in the system is based upon aconsumer ID, a purchaser may use any of multiple payment vehicles (suchas cash, check, charge card, credit card, debit card, MasterCard®,Visa®, and/or the American Express® Card for example) to make purchasesat the various retailers and still participate in the system. Thus, inone embodiment, the consumer ID is independent of any particular paymentvehicle, such as a credit card for example.

However, alternate embodiments of the invention may be implemented whichassociate a consumer ID with a particular payment vehicle, such as aconsumer's credit card account, charge card account, debit card account,and/or bank account for example. In this embodiment, the retailerconducting the transaction need only participate in the system to theextent that the retailer provides its SKU data to the system 100, suchas to the rewards server 120. In other words, when a consumer ID isassociated with an instrument (e.g., a credit card) from a third-partyprovider, the retailer need not provide a rewards terminal or otherterminal capable of processing the consumer ID, since the third-partyprovider may process the consumer ID as part of the payment transaction.Thus, in this embodiment, rewards benefits may be earned by the consumeron a network-wide level without the retailer's direct participation inthe rewards feature (notwithstanding the retailer's participation intransmitting SKU data to the system). Moreover, it will be appreciatedthat a single consumer ID may be associated with multiple third-partypayment vehicles, thereby allowing a consumer to generate rewards pointsregardless of the particular payment vehicle selected for a particularpurchase.

With reference to FIG. 4, an exemplary central rewards mechanism 402includes a central processor 404 in communication with other elements ofthe rewards mechanism 402 through a system interface or bus 406. Asuitable display device/input device 408, such as a keyboard or pointingdevice in combination with a monitor, may be provided for receiving datafrom and outputting data to a user of the system. A memory 410associated with the rewards mechanism 402 includes various softwaremodules, such as an enrollment module 412 and an authentication module414 for example. The memory 410 preferably further includes an operatingsystem 416 which enables execution by processor 404 of the varioussoftware applications residing at enrollment module 412 andauthentication module 414. Operating system 416 may be any suitableoperating system, as described above. Preferably, a network interface418 is provided for suitably interfacing with other elements of theincentive awards system, such as the elements described above withreference to FIGS. 1-3.

Lastly, a storage device 420, such as a hard disk drive for example,preferably contains files or records which are accessed by the varioussoftware modules, such as enrollment module 412 and authenticationmodule 414. In particular, consumer data 422 comprises informationreceived from a consumer upon registration with the rewards mechanism402. Consumer rewards 424 comprises data corresponding to eachconsumer's rewards account. Consumer rewards 424 may include cumulativerewards points totals as well as historical totals and rewards accountactivity over time. Retailer records 426 comprises information receivedfrom the various participating retailers. Manufacturer records 428comprises information received from the various participatingmanufacturers. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the storagedevice 420 and, therefore, consumer data 422, consumer rewards 424,retailer records 426, and manufacturer records 428 may be co-locatedwith the rewards mechanism 402 or may be remotely located with respectto the rewards mechanism 402. If the storage device 420 is remotelylocated with respect to the rewards mechanism 402, communication betweenstorage device 420 and rewards mechanism 402 may be accomplished by anysuitable communication link but is preferably accomplished through aprivate intranet or extranet.

Enrollment module 412 receives information from consumers, retailers,and/or manufacturers who wish to participate in the system. Enrollmentmodule 412 accesses and stores information in storage device 420.Authentication and/or validation of the identity and status ofparticipants, including any of the other system components, may beperformed by the authentication module 414, which preferably has accessto the records residing in storage device 420.

With reference to FIG. 5, an exemplary rewards server 502 includes acentral processor 504 in communication with other elements of therewards server 502 through a system interface or bus 506. A suitabledisplay device/input device 508, such as a keyboard or pointing devicein combination with a monitor, may be provided for receiving data fromand outputting data to a user of the system. A memory 510 associatedwith the rewards server 502 includes a variety of software modules, suchas an association module 512, a rewards calculation module 514, a dataanalysis module 516, and a filtering module 518 for example. The memory510 preferably further includes an operating system 520 which enablesexecution by processor 504 of the various software applications residingat the various modules 512, 514, 516, and 518. Operating system 520 maybe any suitable operating system, as described above. Preferably, anetwork interface 522 is provided for suitably interfacing with otherelements of the incentive awards system, such as the elements describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1-3.

Lastly, a storage device 524, such as a database as described above forexample, preferably contains files or records which are accessed by thevarious software modules 512, 514, 516, and 51 8. In particular,manufacturer data 526 comprises information received from amanufacturer, such as descriptions or other information regarding themanufacturer's products and/or services as well as UPC data for example.Retailer data 528 comprises information received from a retailer, suchas descriptions or other information regarding the retailer's productsand/or services as well as SKU data for example. Consumer data 530comprises information pertaining to a consumer, including a consumer ID,purchase data, a consumer profile, and/or the like. One skilled in theart will appreciate that the storage device 524 and, therefore,manufacturer data 526, retailer data 528, and consumer data 530 maybeco-located with the rewards server 502 or may be remotely located withrespect to the rewards server 502. If the storage device 524 is remotelylocated with respect to the rewards server 502, communication betweenstorage device 524 and rewards server 502 may be accomplished by anysuitable communication link but is preferably accomplished through aprivate intranet or extranet.

Referring next to FIGS. 6 and 7, the process flows depicted in thesefigures are merely exemplary embodiments of the invention and are notintended to limit the scope of the invention as described above. It willbe appreciated that the following description makes appropriatereference not only to the steps depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7 but also tothe various system components as described above with reference to FIGS.1-3.

FIG. 6 is flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for capturing andprocessing POS SKU data in accordance with the present invention. Theassociation or matching of UPC and SKU data begins with POS data capture(step 602). When a consumer presents a consumer ID to a retailer 104 atthe time of purchasing an item from the retailer 104, the consumer ID isprocessed by a rewards terminal 116 that recognizes the consumer ID andidentifies the consumer as a participant in the system 100. Purchasedata is captured by the retailer POS terminal 112. Purchase data mayinclude any of the following: a SKU number; a unit price; a totaltransaction price; the payment vehicle(s) used; a store ID whichidentifies the particular store location if a retailer operates morethan one store; a department ID, if the store has multiple departments;the date of the transaction; the time of the transaction; the employeeID of the store clerk who facilitates the transaction; a POS terminal 16to identify the particular terminal conducting the transaction, anyretailer-specific incentive program ID, and/or the like. The retailerPOS terminal 112 creates a transaction file comprising the consumer data(including a consumer ID) and purchase data (including a SKU numberassociated with each item purchased), and the transaction file is thenstored by the retailer processor 110 in database 111 (step 604).

The various transaction files may be consolidated by the retailerprocessor 110 and then forwarded to the retailer regional processor 114(step 606) for further back-office and cumulative data analysisperformed by retailer 104.

In an exemplary embodiment, the transaction file is transmitted byeither of the retailer processor 110 or the retailer regional processor114 to the rewards server 120 (step 608). The SKU information for eachitem included in the transaction file is then matched to or associatedwith corresponding UPC information which identifies the relatedmanufacturer 106. An exemplary association process is illustrated in theflowchart of FIG. 7. Association of SKU and UPC data may be accomplishedthrough any data association technique known and practiced in the art.For example, the association may be accomplished either manually orautomatically. Automatic association techniques may include, forexample, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, and/orthe like.

In an exemplary embodiment, database 121 receives and storesmanufacturer data, including UPC data, from manufacturer 106 (step 702).Database 121 also receives and stores retailer data, including SKUnumbers, from retailer 104 (step 704). In an exemplary implementation,database 121 stores manufacturer data in a separate manufacturer datatable for each participating manufacturer 106. Each manufacturer datatable may comprise a plurality of fields, such as “UPC” and “productdescription” for example, and a plurality of records, each of whichcorresponds to an item offered by the participating manufacturer 106. Inone embodiment, database 121 stores retailer data in a separate retailerdata table for each participating retailer 104. Each retailer data tablemay comprise a plurality of fields, such as “SKU” and “productdescription” for example, and a plurality of records, each recordcorresponding to an item offered by a participating retailer 104.

Data from each of the manufacturer and the retailer data tables is thenassociated (step 706). The association step may be accomplished by adatabase merge function, for example, using a “key field” in each of themanufacturer and retailer data tables. A “key field” partitions thedatabase according to the high-level class of objects defined by the keyfield. For example, a “product description” class may be designated as akey field in both the manufacturer data table and the retailer datatable, and the two data tables may then be merged on the basis of the“product description” data in the key field. In this embodiment, thedata corresponding to the key field in each of the merged data tables ispreferably the same. That is, the product descriptions in themanufacturer data table matches the product descriptions in the retailerdata table. However, manufacturer and retailer data tables havingsimilar, though not identical, data in the key fields may also be mergedby using AGREP, for example.

The result of the data association step is the creation of a separatedata table, such as a UPC/SKU lookup table for example (step 708). Thus,when the rewards server 120 receives the data (e.g., consumer ID and SKUdata) captured by the POS terminal (step 710), the rewards server 120may search the UPC/SKU lookup table for the appropriate SKU number andthen match the SKU to the corresponding UPC data (step 712). In anexemplary embodiment, the “SKU” and “UPC” fields in the UPC/SKU datatable may be linked by an appropriate pointer. That is, when the rewardsserver 120 searches the UPC/SKU table and locates the particular SKUthat has been captured and transmitted by the POS terminal, thespecifically identified SKU datafield uses a pointer to direct therewards server 120 to the UPC datafield that corresponds to that SKUnumber. In an exemplary embodiment, the UPC datafield may be linked byone or more additional pointers to other key fields, such as a consumerID, a retailer ID, a manufacturer ID, and/or a third-party ID. Theseadditional pointers may be used as means for compiling data which may beuseful in any of the various data analyses performed by the rewardsserver 120. In this manner, the association of POS SKU numbers and UPCdata may be used to create a context in which standardized, network-wideanalyses may be conducted.

In an exemplary embodiment, the rewards server 120 utilizes theassociation information to calculate the rewards points generated by aconsumer's purchase. For example, an appropriate series of pointersleading from a SKU to a UPC to a manufacturer ID may ultimately directthe rewards server 120 to employ a 2-for-1 manufacturer rewards ratio toaward a consumer twice as many points as the dollar amount of theconsumer's total transaction price. In another exemplary embodiment, anappropriate series of pointers may result in the calculation of rewardspoints based upon multiple rewards criteria, such as rewards criteriaassociated with the manufacturer of the item as well as rewards criteriaassociated with a third-party provider for example.

In a further embodiment, the rewards server 120 may use the associationof UPC and SKU number data to analyze a variety of marketing variablesacross multiple manufacturers and retailers. For example, rewards server120 may use a series of pointers leading from an SKU to a UPC and thento a “consumer profile” field or table to correlate, for instance,consumer spending behaviors, particular manufacturers, and/or specificproducts across multiple retailers for example.

In alternative embodiments, association of the UPC data and SKU numbermay take place at any of the rewards terminal 116, the retailer POSterminal 112, the retailer processor 110, the retailer regionalprocessor 114 (or a retailer national processor), and/or the centralrewards mechanism 102.

In one embodiment, the retailer 104 may offer an incentive or loyaltyprogram that is independent from the program offered by the system 100.Alternatively, the retailer 104 may use the system's UPC data for itsown internal purposes.

With momentary reference to FIG. 6, in one exemplary embodiment, theconsumer ID and the earned rewards information are transmitted to thecentral rewards mechanism 102 after the rewards server 120 has filteredout consumer data associated with the consumer ID (step 610). In anotherembodiment, the central rewards mechanism 102 may use the captured andmatched UPC information to determine rewards and/or for data analysis.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific embodiments. However, it will be appreciated thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below. Thespecification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative manner,rather than a restrictive one, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present invention. Accordingly, thescope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims andtheir legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given above. Forexample, the steps recited in any of the method or process claims may beexecuted in any order and are not limited to the order presented in theclaims.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. As used herein, the terms“comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intendedto cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not includeonly those elements but may include other elements not expressly listedor inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, noelement described herein is required for the practice of the inventionunless expressly described as “essential” or “critical”.

1. A method for facilitating a loyalty program having loyalty points, said method including: providing loyalty points from a system administrator to a third party, wherein said third party is at least one of a retailer and a merchant; maintaining a database of accounts, wherein each of said accounts include a balance of loyalty points associated with a third party; receiving, from said third party, criteria for awarding said loyalty points to an account associated with a consumer ID; receiving consumer ID and at least one of purchase data, manufacturer item identifier, retailer item identifier and product description data; calculating a first number of loyalty points based upon said criteria, consumer ID and at least one of purchase data, manufacturer item identifier, retailer item identifier and product description data; deducting said first number of loyalty points from said account associated with said third party; and, increasing said first number of loyalty points in said account associated with said consumer ID.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing loyalty points includes at least one of selling, donating and replacing deducted loyalty points.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing loyalty points includes selling loyalty points to said third party and receiving payment for said loyalty points from said third party through at least one of transaction card payment, automatic clearinghouse, electronic funds transfer, direct deposit, invoice and checks.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of maintaining a database of accounts includes tracking said balance of loyalty points associated with said third party in said account wherein said tracking includes at least one of notifying said third party regarding the balance remaining in said account, establishing rules for adjusting the balance in said account, automatically adjusting said account upon the balance in said account reaching a predetermined amount and replacing deducted loyalty points.
 5. The method of claim 1, further including facilitating a loyalty program on a network-wide level such that said third party includes more than one retailer and at least one manufacturer.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of receiving, from said third party, criteria includes receiving criteria related to at least one of authority to use system administrator criteria, points-for-dollars ratios, defined quantity of points per item, and defined quantity of points per transaction. 